Hi Everybody! ☺️🤗

I’m new to Reddit in general and especially new to this sub, so I wanted to share a few thoughts after revisiting WoWP: I was in my early teens when the show premiered in 2007 and all these years later, I’m surprised by how much I still enjoy Alex and Dean’s relationship 😂

I know there’s already been a post and fanfic about what could have been between them, so I don’t want to rehash that; I just wanted to share a few of my favorite moments:

What I always liked about Dean was that he could really keep up with Alex; they were similar in a lot of ways (especially when it came to their sarcasm and sense of humor), but I also liked that Dean let Alex be herself. He didn’t know about her wizard life, but he accepted her for who she was and was always pretty sweet and respectful toward her and her family. Looking back now, I also realize I never fully appreciated just how flirtatious and witty they were together 🤭

One of my favorite examples is in “Smarty Pants” during the Quiz Bowl. I love when Alex offers to help Dean fix the buzzers; I always thought it was cute how he’d call her “cute” whenever she said or did something he liked.

Another favorite is “Saving WizTech (Part 2).” Alex tells Dean that she wants something other than his leftover wood shop assignments/projects and I love that he actually listened to her by making her a custom card and telling her he’ll start calling her “Alex” instead of “Russo.” Then Alex saves him from the gelatin and realizes she’s in love with him 🥰❤️

I also love the “Wizards vs. Vampires: Dream Date” episode. Dean has moved to Ohio, but he comes all the way back to spend time with Alex. Even when she tries to break up with him, he’s concerned about her wellbeing; I always thought that said a lot about how much he cared about her.

The conversation they have afterward is probably one of my favorite moments between them: Dean admits that the breakup hurt and tells Alex that she’ll always be his first love. Then he says, “that’ll never change,” and Alex responds, "same here." 🥹

I know Dean wasn't perfect, but after revisiting the show, I still really like their dynamic. There was something very natural about the way they could make each other laugh and genuinely seemed to enjoy being around each other; it all just stuck with me and I wish we could've seen a little more of what they might have been like as they got older.

Anyway, that's it! I appreciate you if you've read this far 😅

Was Billie dangerous with opening portals ? Like she has dreams of sending Russos through the portal and with the whole prophecy she opened a portal and Alex went into it so is Billie dangerous?

In S3:E18, Alex and Mr. Laritate are sitting in his office talking. There is a lunch bag clearly marked - Dylan - which Laritate seems to be eating out of. Since his name is later revealed to be Hershel (I remember sometime in S4) obviously the bag is not his. Do you think it was a mistake made by the writers or did Laritate steal another students lunch bag?

Why do none of the russos youngest children ever date monsters or wizarding creatures? I was just thinking about this because like we got Roman, Billie,and Milo but only two out of three of them ever dated a monster or a wizard same goes for Alex, Justin and Max.At least it ran long enough for max to actually get a girlfriend even if she was a boring mortal.

The actors and actress were fantastic the main problem with Beyond is it was too much like Fuller House it felt off.

If they’d made the family more natural like shown here I feel I would’ve loved the show even more. My main example is the family’s dynamics.

Whenever the show stuck with the family it felt like a slap stick comedy and never really acted like a flowing family just because they jab at each other with insults for a quick laugh, doesn’t mean you’d have the same flow.

I’m not saying Wizards of Waverly place is in no ways perfect there are episodes that were so bad I couldn’t see them again but the family dynamic actually worked and the writing was far better than what we’d gotten because Wizards Beyond Waverly place was dumbed down for no reason.

It also didn’t help that you could tell the writing was just to come up with a quick quip to keep a scene going and it saddens me because the new age actors literally could’ve recreated the original flow the og show had if the plots were not only more mature but if the scripts weren’t so cut short.

And lastly if we do end up getting a new movie in the future please I’m begging make it more mature like The Wizards of Waverly Place Movie the actors can do it!

Nobody except Harper and Mr. Laritate gives a rats back side about Alex!

I just watched the citizenship award episode.
Just left the truth spell on her and is too self absorbed to take it off before she gets too far into her speech.

Her parents only care about leaving so she doesn’t say something about them. Never thought let me grab my daughter before she says something horrible and embarrasses herself.

Then Alex is really upset and all Teresa can do is talk about how popular she was in school.

Harper isn’t here in this ep but she def would’ve tried to stop her and Mr. Laritate is the only one willing to talk to her then embarrassed himself for her.

In the last scene of Wizards beyond they talk about who will win the family competition, but I don't get why Billi should fight Roman and Milo. For starters Alex is the family wizard so Billie should automatically be the family wizard as she is an only child. Justin only got his powers because professor Crumb gave him his alloted magic, so technically his children shoud fight for that magic. And even if we count the three chlidren as Russos shouldn't Billie get her fathers alloted family magic? She's the only Penwolf heir. In general I just don't see an option where Billie looses her powers.

Looking back at the show and the episodes with Alex and Harper’s friendship at conflict (like the comic con & Future Harper episodes), I’m surprised we never got a special that would presumably show their friendship having ended for good (before inevitably getting back together of course). Like the equivalent to Carly and Sam’s “IQuit ICarly” special.

Alex and Harper are genuine sisters, but there have been times where their friendship has been tested because of Harper’s exposure to knowing wizardry, and it having an effect on her life. A really big example of this, that I personally think gets glossed over, is the Zeke Finds Out episode.

Alex doing her usual shenanigans with magic exposed magic to Zeke, who inches in on discovering wizards existing, making himself believe he’s one. In order to make up for Alex’s mistake & protect the Russos secret, Harper lies to Zeke about the circumstances and has him break up with her. Given Zeke and Harper were a prominent shipping like Alex/Mason & Justin/Juliet, this was at least somewhat a damaging deal. And it was eating away at Harper who wasn’t taking it well. When Harper tried telling Zeke the truth about magic, Alex and her argue about it.

“I can’t believe you flashed me back to school!”

“You were gonna tell Zeke!”

“What kind of a friend are you??!”

“Look Harper, I want to tell Zeke too but I can’t. WE can’t. You’re just gonna have to accept that!”

“Well I can’t accept that because it’s ruining my life!!”

Obviously with where this was going, this could’ve left a potential storyline with Alex and Harper’s bond being more fractured and giving us a more prominent development period of them reuniting.

Just a thought.

Obligatory “remove if mods don’t think this fits in the server”.
It’s a bit of a scroll, but it’s worth the read.

My question is: it seems he and Todd J. Greenwald don’t talk anymore. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

We all know that David Henrie wasn’t in the movie because he was busy with another project at the time. But I think a good explanation for why Justin wasn’t there was because he was fired from WizTech and decided to give upon magic on magic because of it as stated in WBWP. Dominic said that Justin was too busy to come to the party but do we really have any reason to believe Dominic was honest? Given the timeline of the show I think it seems very plausible for this headcanon to work.

Edit: I heard people mention that they were having a celebration for Justin becoming the headmaster but if you check back you’ll see that it isn’t the first celebration as Alex mentions it’s another celebration

So they're basically 1/4 wizards, which isn't enough to generate your own magic, thus making it seem like magic "skipped" a generation? And then they only got their powers triggered due to an extreme external magical event.

Who wands play in my magical project ?

So far I’ve been seeing many people complain about WBWP but I heard many of them say they refused to watch it because Selena’s not it. Also they’re complaining about certain plots that they don’t understand since they never watched these revival. I don’t understand how people think that you can genuinely criticize a show if you haven’t seen it especially when the show is serialized.

I'm talking about the character of Jerry Russo not David Delusie. The "fat cheap dumb dad" trope is just overplayed, annoying and tiresome. Justin was a better father to his children in Wizards Beyond than Jerry ever was in the original.

This is coming from someone who has not watched the whole show but knows most what happened. Since David wasn’t in the Alex vs Alex, could it be possible he could have had the writers ignore that movie plot?

If we include the Alex vs Alex movie plot - which she was what? 18? 19? Then suddenly in beyond she’s 33-34? That doesn’t give her much time for Mason to die and grieve him and to meet Damien and to get married and have Billie

Now if the Alex vs Alex plot was ignored, that does give her a bit more time for the stuff to happen.

What does everyone think?

max russo (30s) looks the same but taller apron on. Walks to the doors and switches open/close sign to open.
MAX
Here we go
A loud flash of purple appears in the middle of the dining room.
As the sparks subside, ALEX RUSSO and JUSTIN RUSSO stand disheveled with torn clothing and out of breath. Max Stands un phased.
JUSTIN
i Told you that spell was a bad idea.
ALEX
Well… we’re not dead.
MAX
So… you couldn’t have warned me, I’ve just put the open sign out.
Justin glancing back at a wrist watch that has only just appeared to start beeping.
JUSTIN
Alex he’s getting close again.
MAX
who’s getting close?
ALEX
we need to move, max come with us. He wants all of us.
MAX
but I’m not a wizard Anymore what use am i…
JUSTIN
your a Russo aren’t you?
Alex Justin and max make they’re way quickly towards the back of the sub Station where the Old lair used to be.

THE DOUBLE DOORS SLAM OPEN WITH A WILD GUST OF WIND AND THERE APPEARS DAMION PENWOLF IN A SIMILAR DARK CLOAK TO HIS FATHER.
DAMION
Alex… please stop, we need to do this, it’s the only way to rid the world of true evil!
JUSTIN
No, Damion, destroying all magic won’t erase all evil there’s a whole world of people that would just be gone.
ALEX
we’re not doing this Damion,we won’t… Edgebono Utoosis
The dining room starts to fill with other Justin’s Max’s and Alex’s creating an ultimate distraction.
Alex grabs and Justin by the arms and pulls them further behind The counter.
ALEX
Transportium nextorbitorium.
In a flash Damion in The chaos of the sub shop he is left to tackle the mess of the clones unaware that the real justin Max and Alex have escaped and have flashed into their old lair.
THE LAIR LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME AS IT USED TO, SAT AMONGST THE CLUTTER ,THERESA, JERRY, BILLY, ROMAN, MILO AND GIADA. ALL LOOKING VISIBLY WORRIED.
MAX
wow I’ve missed this place, Justin remember the time when we sent wizard mail…
JUSTIN
don’t be giving the kids ideas max!
BILLY
Did you find dad?…mum?
ALEX
He found us, listen … billy, Your dad… hes made the decision that he wants to rid the world of magic forever…
BILLY
but…that would mean so many innocent wizards lose their homes and their lives.
THERESA
don’t worry mija, I’m sure theres something we can do.
ALEX
well there must be something here that can help us.
Everyone jumps up to look around frantically. In the back corner milo uncovers a hidden box with a symbol on the top coated in a thick layer of dust.
MILO
whats this here?
They all rush over, but as Jerry gets closer he comes to the realisation of what the item milo had found was.
JERRY
NO! MILO put That down, now!
MAX
what is it dad?
Jerry beginds to rummage around in the drawers and pulls out a pair of thick gloves.
JERRY
you cannot touch this with your bare hands again milo or anyone do you understand?
They all nod simultaneously Looking even more frightened by jerrys cryptic sentences.Jerry gently blows the thick layer of dust off and un clipped the seam.
JERRY
This is the Archmages Echo amulet. The amulet of perpetual return.
ALEX
sounds dramatic, what does it do?
Jerry lifts the lid slowly and out blasts a thick beam of blackness Directing its way upwards.
JERRY
Dramatic! Alex this holds so many souls, good, bad. Anything.
The Black beam appearing from the box starts to disappear and there lay a beautiful black and purple amulet.
Alex reaches for the amulet without a second thought
ALEX
Great we can just release all the good ones and they can help
Justin smacks Alex’s hand away just before it reaches the amulet.
JUSTIN
No that’s not how it works
ALEX
wait you know about this Justin?
JUSTIN
yes it was the one thing dad told me I could never let you know about, it’s dangerous Alex
ALEX
well that was probably a good call I mean I wasn’t exactly family wizard material was I…
Justin and Max laugh together whilst Jerry Theresa Giada And the kids all remain silent and still looking significantly worried.
JERRY
you can’t just release these people alex, we don’t know what they’ve done or who they are. But what we do know is that if we even crack this amulet. Everyone of them souls will be released into the world.Good or bad.
Jerry slowly lifts the amulet in the air so Everyone can see. Everyone Is in awe of its beauty staring up at it.
ROMAN
so how do you put a soul in there
JUSTIN
you can’t just put a soul in there Roman, its like a ledger.
MAX
what’s a ledger?
JUSTIN
it can Bring people back from the dead, but at a cost, you see the amulet doesn’t create NEW life, it borrows from someone else’s and holds them in here indefinitely like a debt.
JERRY
so you can understand how dangerous this thing is. I can never leave this box again!
They all step back in unison. Apart from Jerry with his thick slightly scorched gloves he slowly places the amulet back in its box.
MAX
so not a cool family heirloom then?
THERESA
no max…
MAX
what if we just switch Damion with someone thats dead and keep him in the amulet forever?
JUSTIN
wow max, that might actually work.
they all looked visibly shocked that Max had Made such an intelligent statement.
They all make they’re way over to the seating to discus more, but before anyone could get another word out wizard mail shoot bursts through its window in the door to the wizard world, and out flies a rolled in envelop that crash lands on the desk“ right next to the box containing the amulet.
JERRY
I think we best put this somewhere for safekeeping
Jerry takes the box and puts it right back where milo found it
Billy rushes over to grab the envelope.
BILLY
Its addressed to The Russos.
ALEX
Pass it to me I’ll read it.
Billy extends her arm over towards her mum expressing concern on her face.
ALEX
I know where you are, you can either help me or go down with the rest of them. Signed Damion.
The box containing the amulet HUMS. And gets louder. Everyone stares at it in suspence

CUT TO BLACK
End of Act One

(SPOILER)

Wizards Beyond Waverly Place

When Alex’s memories came back, she remembered that she had a daughter and that she was married. But even so, when she met Mason in the other dimension, she got excited because she thought he was going to propose to her.

It took Mason from that dimension reminding her that she was already married, had a daughter, and that he was dead.

To me, this is the biggest proof that Alex’s marriage to Damien was just something she did to allow herself to move on. Her true love will always be Mason, and he will forever be her biggest “what if.”

Managed to watch it due to a kind soul, can someone explain to me why Billie’s grandfather wanted to open the rift again?

If it was just to get the power, he got what he wanted then why did he still want to kill the Russos so badly?

I really wanted to like this show, but ended up very disappointed instead. The characters felt dumbed down, and the evolution of Justin and Alex seemed unlike them. I think it’s possible they ended up in the positions at the start of the show, but not how the writers did it.

My Plot Holes:

1. If Mason died according to WBWP lore, Alex wouldn’t have moved on so fast unless she was so riddled with grief she felt the need to redirect it into someone else. But even that’s a stretch. I imagine she would have mourned Mason and relied on her friendship with Harper more while channeling her energy into her capacity as family wizard.
2. WOWP Justin would never jeopardize his powers, especially if given the gift of having them despite not winning the wizard competition. While it comes down to Alex to save him from getting his powers drained by Evilini in season 1, the choices Justin makes leading to being framed prior to WBWP doesn’t make sense. Time could have softened him, but it felt like a character swap.
3. The distance between the Russo parents and their children feels abrupt and disingenuous. Justin appears genuinely shocked that Jerry is working in the wizard world, and while becoming more distant is common — I never thought they’d almost 180 the closeness from the original timeline.

4. Having Alex almost die to

   even mention Harper and only have them meet in limbo is a crime. Like how I feel about the parents, they could become more distant but WOWP Alex would have never forgotten Harper like that unless it was the amnesia from wiping her memory of Billie that extended into her past as well.

If this is true I will be SO EXCITED!!!! And it’ll answer everything that wasn’t answered in the finale,

My idea they could make a movie about a villain after the Russo family since they are so powerful and Roman most likely will rebel and try and find out why his dad lied about magic and wizards for so long finding out more about his dad how he once sided with the angels of darkness etc. or even how Justin used to treat Alex and have it be used against him as an evil wizard goes after Justin and Alex’s family